The mysterious vanishing of “NO”.

Over the last couple of years, it has been itching a bit, but not that bad… until recently. Now it is an acute case of soul scabies of the worst kind: the word “No” seems to have vanished from our vocabulary. You know, the plain and simple NO. The prohibition of the use of the term used to be a Japanese cultural trait, so I had been told… but it certainly seems to have been catching up in the West.

So… a few sentences I sorely miss:

“No, we don´t have it.”

“Please do not do that.”

Ah, the beauty of brutality, the nostalgia of transparency! How we are instead measuring ourselves according to stats, avatars, sales figures, spa-like spectres, artistic scams!

So instead, we have…

“Hey, we´re out of stock, but how about buying this instead?”

“Well, by all means, go ahead, but you might end up on your own…”

OR, worst of all,

Silence – simply allowing time to add up and slowly, gradually suck the oxygen out of expectancy… under the belief that intelligent people will get the hint. Well gentlemen, it so happens that intelligent people do get the loud hint of the silent insult. It is just that the admission of the hint would be a self-insult on top of all else.

In these days of self-righteous selfishness disguised as anodyne sensitivity, uttering the word “No” may ultimately be an act of generosity. Take that.

Music-wise: Enrico Rava – Tati. Virtuosity with so much emotion. It soothes somehting, somewhere. Much needed, much appreciated.